How is Besançon run?
Ludovic Fagaut has been mayor of Besançon since March 22, 2026, elected by the 55 members of the municipal council. At the March 2026 municipal elections, ENSEMBLE BESANCON AVANCE won 42 of the 55 seats in the second round on March 22, 2026, with 53.3% of the votes. Besançon is part of the Communauté urbaine Grand Besançon Métropole.
March 2032
Councils are elected for six years; the council elects the mayor.
Register to vote ↗Throughout this page, the median in Doubs and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
The council the voters chose
Seats as the March 2026 results gave them, one dot a seat.
- ENSEMBLE BESANCON AVANCE4242 community seats
- BESANÇON : VIVANTE, JUSTE ET HUMAINE1313 community seats
As elected in the second round, March 22, 2026.
The list that comes first gets half the seats; the rest are shared in proportion among the lists with 5% or more, the winner included. So the winning list always has a majority. The same vote gave Besançon 55 seats on the council of the Communauté urbaine Grand Besançon Métropole (community seats).
Source: Interior ministry, 2026 municipal election results (March 15 and 22), subject to corrections and appeals.
4 authorities share the work
The commune is the tier closest to residents; the intercommunality, the département and the région do the rest.
Births, marriages and deaths, the electoral roll, nursery and primary schools, local roads, planning permission, the municipal police, and what else the council takes on.
Mayor: Ludovic Fagaut · 55 councilors
The services its communes share: usually waste collection, economic development and planning documents; often water and local buses.
Social aid (RSA, care for older and disabled people, child protection), collèges, the département’s roads, and funding for fire and rescue.
Lycées, regional trains (TER) and coaches, economic development and job training.
Who to ask
The usual split of powers (service-public.fr); an intercommunality’s exact remit varies, so check its website for waste, water and buses.
Membership: COG 2026 (INSEE); intercommunality type: BANATIC, January 2025. What each tier does: service-public.fr.
From the mayor to the intercommunality
The officials as the Interior ministry’s register lists them, and the council by list.
- 1Mayorsince March 22, 2026Ludovic Fagaut
- 2Deputy mayors16 adjoints, elected by the councilEmmanuelle Huot CusenierJean-Pascal ReyesMyriam LemercierFabrice TaillardIsabelle BordatClément DarcqAnne-Rachel SchertzSerge Couësmes+8 more
- 3Besançon municipal council55 seats by listENSEMBLE BESANCON AVANCE 42 · BESANÇON : VIVANTE, JUSTE ET HUMAINE 13
- 4Communauté urbaine Grand Besançon MétropoleBesançon holds 55 seatsCommunity councilors are drawn from the council lists in the same vote.
Source: Interior ministry, national register of elected officials (RNE), August 11, 2026.
The 55 members of the Besançon municipal council
The mayor and 16 deputy mayors first, then the councilors.
| Name | Office | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Ludovic Fagaut | Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Emmanuelle Huot Cusenier | 1er adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Jean-Pascal Reyes | 2ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Myriam Lemercier | 3ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Fabrice Taillard | 4ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Isabelle Bordat | 5ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Clément Darcq | 6ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Anne-Rachel Schertz | 7ème adjoint au Maire | June 18, 2026 |
| Serge Couësmes | 8ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Christine Werthe | 9ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Guillaume Bailly | 10ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Esther Szwarc | 11ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Pascal Orlandi | 12ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Emmanuelle Meunier | 13ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Frédéric Parise | 14ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Véronique Jelsch | 15ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Didier Gendraud | 16ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
Show the full council (55)
| Name | Office | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Ludovic Fagaut | Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Emmanuelle Huot Cusenier | 1er adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Jean-Pascal Reyes | 2ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Myriam Lemercier | 3ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Fabrice Taillard | 4ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Isabelle Bordat | 5ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Clément Darcq | 6ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Anne-Rachel Schertz | 7ème adjoint au Maire | June 18, 2026 |
| Serge Couësmes | 8ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Christine Werthe | 9ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Guillaume Bailly | 10ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Esther Szwarc | 11ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Pascal Orlandi | 12ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Emmanuelle Meunier | 13ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Frédéric Parise | 14ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Véronique Jelsch | 15ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Didier Gendraud | 16ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Mohammed Ait-Ali | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Hasni Alem | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Nathalie Bouvet | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Patrick Bouzat | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Jimmy Bresillion | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Bruno Caire | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Estelle Camara | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Aline Chassagne | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Laurent Croizier | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Jérôme Cupillard | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Franck Defrasne | Conseiller municipal | June 11, 2026 |
| Anne Falga | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Lydie Francart | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Abdel Ghezali | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Laura Giniot | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Marie Gruillot | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Leïla Hannouni | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Pierre-Charles Henry | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Patrick Jacques | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Jérémy Jeanvoine | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Jean-Sébastien Leuba | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Madeleine Lhomme | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Hélène Magnin-Feysot | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Martin Mellion | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Eléonore Metzger | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Franck Monneur | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Manon Monnier | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Laurence Mulot Cesari | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Sophie Peseux | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Anthony Poulin | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Djilalli Sahlaoui | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Flora Simonin | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Frédérique Thomas-Maurin | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Kévin Vejux | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Patrick Verdier | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Anne Vignot | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Séverine Véziès | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Sylvie Wanlin | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
Names and offices as the Interior ministry’s national register of elected officials (RNE) published them on August 11, 2026, written as it writes them. Public role only. Later resignations and replacements aren’t shown.
The council: same source as Who represents Besançon, above.
How Besançon voted in March 2026
6 lists stood in the first round; none won half the votes, so a second round followed.
40,876 votes cast for a list
42,221 of 68,641 registered voters in Besançon voted.
806 blank and 539 spoilt ballots, not counted in the shares.
38,469 votes cast for a list · no seats given out: a second round followed
39,207 of 68,616 registered voters in Besançon voted.
424 blank and 314 spoilt ballots, not counted in the shares.
Turnout, first round · March 15, 2026
Shares are of the votes cast for a list, leaving out blank and spoilt ballots. Lists in vote order; the colors only tell the lists apart.
2026 elections: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Besançon spends €1,625 per resident a year
The commune’s consolidated accounts: main and annexed budgets, transfers between them removed.
Per resident, 2025 · against compared communes
Spending and debt per resident, 2018 to 2025
Besançon owed €96.6M at the end of 2025, €784 per resident, higher than in 53% of compared French communes, equal to 67% of a year’s running costs.
Show year by year
| Year | Spending | Investment | Debt | Debt in all |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | €1,625 | €459 | €784 | €96.6M |
| 2024 | €1,532 | €389 | €806 | €98.7M |
| 2023 | €1,484 | €371 | €889 | €108M |
| 2022 | €1,394 | €321 | €910 | €110.3M |
| 2021 | €1,345 | €314 | €907 | €108.9M |
| 2020 | €1,295 | €283 | €896 | €106.9M |
| 2019 | €1,353 | €360 | €918 | €110.2M |
| 2018 | €1,379 | €316 | €1,067 | €128.4M |
Source: OFGL, consolidated commune accounts 2018–2025 (DGFiP); 2025 provisional.
The 8th lowest debt per resident of 41 communes its size
The 40 compared communes nearest in population, debt per resident at the end of 2025.
Lowest: Brest, €234. Highest: Argenteuil, €3,303.
Have a say in Besançon
French citizens register online or at the town hall; citizens of other EU countries can vote in municipal elections too.
service-public.fr ↗See where you’re registered and which polling station is yours.
service-public.fr ↗Council meetings are public; the agenda and minutes are posted at the town hall and usually on its website.
service-public.fr ↗Opening hours, address and phone number of the mairie of Besançon in the public services directory.
lannuaire.service-public.fr ↗Who can stand, how lists are formed and the deadlines, from the Interior ministry.
interieur.gouv.fr ↗What this data can and can’t tell you
- Mayors and councilors. From the Interior ministry’s national register of elected officials (RNE) as published on August 11, 2026: name, office and start dates, nothing else. The register counts a mayor as a councilor too; the page counts each person once. It isn’t a live roll: resignations and replacements after that date aren’t shown, and no party is inferred for any official.
- How the council is elected. Since March 2026 every commune elects its council from lists (a 2025 law extended list voting to communes under 1,000). A list with more than half the votes in the first round wins; otherwise lists with 10% or more can go on to a second round, where the list ahead wins. It gets half the seats, and the rest are shared in proportion among lists with 5% or more. The council then elects the mayor and the deputy mayors.
- The label beside a list. The political nuance the prefecture gave the list for the ministry’s results (Divers droite, Union de la gauche…), shown as published. It isn’t the list’s own description; many lists, most in small communes, have none.
- The commune’s money. OFGL’s consolidated accounts from the DGFiP, 2018 to 2025; 2025 is provisional. Spending and investment leave out loan repayments; running costs are part of spending. Debt is what was owed at the end of the year.
- Per resident. Divided by the DGFiP’s population for that year (population totale, which counts some people, such as boarding students, in two communes), so it can differ from the census figure elsewhere on the site.
- The medians. Beside the town’s figure, the median of compared communes in its département and in France (those with an overall grade). A commune’s spending follows its size and its role: one that runs a pool or a theater for the villages around it spends more per resident.
Questions about Besançon’s town hall
Who is the mayor of Besançon?
Ludovic Fagaut, mayor since March 22, 2026, according to the Interior ministry’s register of elected officials (August 11, 2026).
How many councilors does Besançon have?
The Besançon municipal council has 55 members, the mayor and 16 deputy mayors included.
Who won the 2026 municipal elections in Besançon?
ENSEMBLE BESANCON AVANCE, in the second round on March 22, 2026, with 53.3% of the votes; it holds 42 of the 55 seats.
What was the turnout in Besançon?
57.1% of registered voters voted in the first round on March 15, 2026; the median of compared French communes was 57.4%.
When are the next municipal elections in Besançon?
Councils are elected for six years, so the next general municipal elections are due in March 2032. A council can be re-elected sooner if it loses too many members.
How much debt does Besançon have?
€96.6M at the end of 2025, €784 per resident; the median of compared French communes was €748.
Which intercommunality is Besançon part of?
Besançon is part of the Communauté urbaine Grand Besançon Métropole, which runs the services its communes share.
Sources: Interior ministry RNE, August 11, 2026 · Interior ministry, municipal results 2026 · OFGL consolidated commune accounts 2018–2025 · INSEE COG 2026 and BANATIC (January 2025) for the intercommunality. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.